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NC Family has joined several pro-family organizations in urging local government officials across North Carolina to refrain from enacting ordinances that grant special legal protections based on “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” Also referred to as “SOGI” ordinances, these types of measures have been used by governmental bodies across the country to attack and punish small business owners—like florists, cake artists, photographers, and other artistic professionals—who are simply seeking to live their lives and operate their businesses according to their deeply held religious beliefs about marriage and human sexuality. (SOGI ordinances also have other widespread implications, which are outlined below.)

NC Family joined Alliance Defending Freedom, NC Values Coalition, Christian Action League of NC, Concerned Women for America, and NC Faith & Freedom Coalition to co-author a letter to mayors, city council members, city attorneys and city managers, as well as all 100 county attorneys and county managers across the state. The letter warned these local officials of the harms associated with SOGI ordinances and urged them to resist efforts to enact such ordinances. “North Carolina can respect the dignity of all of its citizens without enacting new ordinances that have devastating consequences for women, families, small businesses and people of faith,” the letter reads.

This action became necessary after a provision in HB 142, the successor bill to North Carolina’s House Bill 2, became inactive yesterday, December 1, 2020. This provision, which prohibited local governments from enacting ordinances regulating private employment practices or public accommodations, is now no longer in effect. Media reports suggest that the LGBT advocacy group Equality NC has been lobbying city leaders and encouraging them to adopt SOGI ordinances after the HB 142 “sunset” goes in effect.

Many will remember that the North Carolina General Assembly adopted HB 2 after the City of Charlotte enacted a SOGI ordinance in February 2016 that allowed men who identify as women to enter women’s restrooms, locker rooms, and other intimate spaces. (For more information about the history and impact of HB2, read NC Family’s special HB 2 Edition of Family North Carolina magazine.) The passage of HB 2 sparked intense debate, and a “compromise” bill (HB 142) was enacted as a “repeal and replace” of HB 2.

Now that the provision of HB 142 that preempted local governments from enacting ordinances relating to employment and public accommodations has sunset, local governments may try to pass SOGI ordinances, and NC Family needs your help!

If you become aware of a SOGI ordinance being discussed or voted on in your town, city, or county, please contact us immediately! You can contact NC Family via phone at (919) 807-0800, or via email at mail@ncfamily.org. Together, we can protect and preserve family values in our state.

What is dangerous about SOGI ordinances?

• They harm small business owners, their employees, and customers
  • “SOGI laws impose government punishment and crippling legal liability on small business owners.”
• They harm churches, ministries, and faith-based nonprofit organizations
  • “SOGI laws could even harm churches and faith-based organizations by stripping away their ability to make employment decisions based on the sexual conduct or identifications of applicants.”
• They harm women and girls in sports, economic opportunities, and privacy
  • “By adding gender identity to the public accommodation law, these laws mandate that men who identify as women be allowed to compete as women in female sports…”
  • “Additionally, SOGI laws violate women’s privacy and dignity by forcing women-only shelters and private spaces like locker rooms, showers, and changing facilities to be open to men.”